Former DOI Official Rossetti also was lobbyist for Detroit casino syndicators lead by Marian Ilitch

as posted 11.16.04 at the BerkleyDailyPlanet.com:

"Other lobbyists hired by [Marian] Ilitch to boost the Southern California casino proposal include Michael Rossetti, former senior legal counsel and chief tribal gaming expert to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton (whose agency has the final say on authorizing the tribe to claim the site as a reservation), and former Missouri Congressional Rep. Alan Wheat.

"Rossetti left his federal job in February to join a law firm representing, among other clients, the Seneca Nation, whose casino plans he had steered through the Department of the Interior. Two months later he was representing the Los Coyotes Band in their Barstow effort along with [Willie]Brown."

originally posted 7.02.07

Look who took part in preliminary discussions about Big Lagoon/Los Coyotes casinos

The following is reproduced from a “sign-in sheet” completed by those who attended a 2004 meeting in northern California to discuss a preliminary proposal for two off-reservation Indian casinos and resorts in Barstow, CA, to be developed and managed by Detroit-based Barwest, L.L.C. for the Big Lagoon Rancheria Indians (Humboldt County) and Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians (San Diego County).

SIGN-IN SHEET

Name	Tribe/Company
Peter Engstrom	Baker & McKenzie (Counsel, Big Lagoon)
Virgil Moorehead	Big Lagoon
Shawna Neyra	Big Lagoon
David Neyra	Big Lagoon
Jake Miklojcik	Michigan Consultants
Heather Sibbison	Patton Boggs/Barwest
Lance Boldrey	Dykema Gossett/Barwest
Anna Kimber	Tribal Attorney/Los Coyotes
Katherine Saubel	Los Coyotes
Kevin Siva	Los Coyotes
Marc A. Palazzo	Barronhaus (Los Coyotes)
Michael G. Rossetti	Akin Gump for Los Coyotes
Robert Guenthardt	Barwest (former chair Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Manistee, MI)
Ron Rector	City of Barstow
Lawrence E. Dale	Mayor City of Barstow
Michael J. Malik	Barwest
John Feliz	Big Lagoon

Ilitch Spokesman confirmed Wheat, Brown & Rossetti were on board for lobbying and consultation

as pubished 10.20.04 in the Desert Dispatch:

"...There are no guarantees that the state or federal government will approve the casino, but BarWest has an impressive team, including Alan Wheat, a former congressman from Kansas; Mike Rossetti, formerly a top aide to Interior Secretary Gale Norton; and Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco.

"Shields said

• Wheat is on board as a federal lobbyist,


• Brown is doing state lobbying and


• Rosetti, an attorney, is a consultant. Shields said Rosetti is an asset partly because he's well-respected at the Interior Department..."

1. Wheat Government Relations has been retained by Barwest LLC as well as other Michael Malik/Marian Ilitch affiliates (Gateway Casino Resorts LLC, Blue Water Resorts LLC) and tribal partners (Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Bay Mills Indian Community, Shinnecock Indian Nation). From 2002-2006 those entities paid Wheat Government Relations at least $1.4 million.
   


2. While Barwest spokesman Tom Shields indicated Willie L. Brown, Jr. was a lobbyist for Barwest LLC and the Los Coyotes Band of Indians, Brown was never registered as their lobbyist with the California Secretary of State as would be required.
   


3. Michael Rossetti's status as a "Consultant" to the Detroit casino syndicators, while employed at a law firm (Akin Gump) that also is one of the top three lobbying firms on Capitol Hill, is suspect. Although the Detroit Team has retained other Akin Gump attorneys who are not registered as their lobbyists either. Rossetti's post Interior role with the Seneca Nation which has come into question is similar to his role with Barwest and the Los Coyotes Band of Indians, although Rossetti earlier had intervened on the Seneca Nation's behalf while still at Interior.

Questions surfacing again about former DOI official turned lobbyist Michael Rossetti

NOTE: the Detroit-based team behind casino syndicators Michael J. Malik and Mrs. Marian Ilitch have previously boasted that former Interior Department official Michael G. Rossetti was a lobbyist for their projects as well although there are no registrations or disclosures to suggest Rossetti lobbied officially for their interests. The Detroit crew has also boasted of retaining Akins Gump expertise but again that firm has never registered as a lobbyists for any Malik/Ilitch affiliates familiar to TVT.

as posted 7.02.07 at indianz.com:

Seneca Nation hired DOI official who fought for casino

An Interior Department official who overruled objections to the Seneca Nation's off-reservation casino in Buffalo, New York, was hired by the tribe as its lobbyist.

Michael G. Rossetti served as counselor to former Secretary Gale Norton. He had authority over Indian gaming matters and led the fight to approve the Seneca casino despite objections from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, The Buffalo News reported.

George Skibine and Paula Hart of the BIA's Office of Indian Gaming Management expressed concerns that the land to be used for the off-reservation casino did not quality for a casino. The site was taken into trust after 1988 but the tribe cited the land claim exception in Section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The BIA also had concerns about the tribe's gaming compact. But in both instances, Rossetti and another Interior lawyer named Edith Blackwell overruled the agency, the paper said.

Rossetti left the department to work for Akin Gump, which was the tribe's lobbying firm. He later told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that former Interior deputy secretary J. Steven Griles intervened in a gaming matter at the behest of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Griles' responses to the committee led to his guilty plea in the Abramoff scandal. He was sentenced to serve 10 months in prison.

Get the Story: Officials questioned Seneca’s practices (The Buffalo News 7/1)

http://www.indianz.com/IndianGaming/2007/003710.asp